Jin Qiu took a deep breath and pulled his hand away from Ren Zhengsheng. "Don't worry. I will go there to check things out, so no one should follow me." He explained while giving his sword to one of the guard. "Without any weapon and wearing this kind of clothes, no one would guess that I can do some martial arts. I will pretend that I'm some kind of slave that ran away from his master's house. Oh, maybe, I should do something first."
With ease, Jin Qiu ripped some part of his clothes.
Rip. Rip. Rip.
Jin Qiu keep ripping his clothes that made it looked like he just got attacked or something. And to add more, he took off his hair pin and messed up his hair for a bit.
He don't really know how he looked like at the moment, but convinced the moment he saw everyone's expression. He must be looked like a damsel in distress. "I will go there and check things more closely. I will give a signal once the villagers received the ledger for this transaction. You can move Jin Troop however you like. I will trust that you won't make a wrong judgment." He said towards the Emperor.
"Are you sure you want to do something like this?" Ren Zhengsheng asked.
Jin Qiu tilted his head for a bit but then Ren Zhengsheng walked towards him.
The man pulled him closer and bites the neck that didn't covered by the clothes. This action made every single guards who saw them quickly moving their gazes elsewhere, including Duan Huifang who smiled after seeing that now, the Emperor and Jin Qiu indeed getting along.
Jin Qiu quickly pushed the man away with everything he got and covered his neck. "What the hell do you think are you doing? Are you a vampire or something? Why did you bite me?"
"A vampire?" Ren Zhengsheng tilted his head confusedly at the strange word. "What's that?"
"A vampire is-! No. That's not important right now! Why did you suddenly bite me?"
"If you're going to act like a slave who ran away from his master, then you need the look to support it. Just ripping your clothes won't be enough because those people are veteran in this kind of thing, but with the bite mark, they will be convinced that you're a slave who ran away because you hate your master. I can guarantee you that it will work."
The smirk on Ren Zhengsheng's face looked like someone who have some other ulterior motives, but since now is not the right time to talk about it, he choose to forget it. Just for now though.
He turn around and stroded towards the village. Just a moment before reaching the village though, Jin Qiu changed his annoyed expression to the pitiful one.
He walked slowly towards the village. The voice became clearer as he got close and he could see the people of village who's responsible for the slave. There are around 50 bandits that looked quite strong.
"Even though you captured me from a fallen kingdom, you can't treat me like this!" The girl shouted. Her eyes showing a strong determination that she won't give up to this people. "I will never sink so low that I need to beg your mercy! And I have a name! My name is Zhang Ai!"
Jin Qiu stunned. Not because he was shocked looking at all the enemies, but because the name that came out of the girl's mouth. Zhang Ai. There was no mistake. Zhang Ai is the name of the girl that will marry the Emperor and become the Empress. And now that he think about it, the girl's appearance indeed match with the description in the novel.
A gleaming brown hair that slightly curly. A skin as smooth as porcelain. Thin red lips and dark red eyes.
'Fuck'
Jin Qiu cursed inside his mind. This girl is the cause of his death, no, the original Jin Qiu's death. As far as he could remember, she shouldn't meet with the Emperor now, so what could've changed? Her meeting supposed to be at the brothel where Zhang Ai is being sold.
His choice to make a deal with the Emperor has changed the flow. That's the only thing he could think of.
His head was still feeling like a mess when the bandits noticed him. "Who's there?!"
Out of desperation, Jin Qiu messing up his hair and stepped out from the bush. "F-forgive me… I Just… I didn't mean to sneak around…" He tried to sounds weak.
The bandits approached him. They grabbed his hand and dragged him to the group. He was then shoved to the ground. They're staring at Jin Qiu from top to toe.
"From his appearance, it seems like he's a sex slave who tried to run away from his master." Said one of the bandits there while chuckling. "He will sell in good price, and since he's a slave, let me taste him first."
The big bandit looming towards Jin Qiu, but just before he could touch Jin Qiu, his hand dropped to the ground and blood burst out of his sliced arm. It took him a second before he realized that his hand has been sliced by Jin Qiu, who's now standing while holding a knife that he pulled out from inside his sleeve.
The blood curling screams caught everyone's attention.
Not that Jin Qiu care about it though. He let out a sigh and looked at the man who kneeled in front of him. "Taste me? Are you kidding me right now? Don't even think about touching me with your disgusting hand."
"What are you all doing?! Capture that slave!!"
At the order, the other bandits charged towards Jin Qiu. Though during the commotion, Jin Qiu saw the ledger that the villagers hold. The prove of their involvement in this slavery.
Jin Qiu looked at Zhang Ai who got pulled away and felt something is off.
But with all the enemies around him, he has no time to think about it. The bandits coming towards him, and he have no choice but to fight them. He's quite skilled in a close fight like this. Even when he just using knife, he can kill several bandits that coming towards him simply by using his speed.
It might be because he was a mafia leader before, or it might be because the body he's using at the moment is the body of a commander, but his movement quite fast and he killed every single person that come towards him without hesitation. The dark side that he has been keeping in his previous world are starting to come out here.
Jin Qiu felt that he killed a lot of the bandits, but there's still more that come.
Knowing they have no chance against Jin Qiu, who only use knife, the bandits choose to use their archer.
Not aware of the archer existence, Jin Qiu keep fighting the bandits that keep coming towards him. He only aware of it when someone suddenly went pass him and blocked the arrow.
He turn around and saw the Emperor standing there. "Zhengsheng? Why did you come?"
"I remember that you said that you will check the situation, but what is this? You forced me to bring out your troop like this. You will have a lot to explain to me later."
The words might sounds bad, but Jin Qiu doesn't think that Ren Zhengsheng means anything bad with it.
The man has a smile on his face when he said that, and more than that, the man seemed to enjoy this.
Only within seconds, the fights between the bandits with Jin Troop broke, and less than one hour, the bandits, along with the villagers who worked together with them, have been subdued. Those who still live were tied together to be brought to the capital for punishment. And those who died will be buried. That's the least courtesy Ren Zhengsheng could give to them.
The slaves are being released and treated. But there's a single slave who approached Jin Qiu as soon as she's done with the treatment.
"Is that the young Emperor of Yingtai?" Zhang Ai asked while looking at Ren Zhengsheng with wide eyes. Her face has a smile just as if she got a new hope. A very beautiful smile.
Did the Emperor fell in love with her because of that? No, Jin Qiu doesn't know for sure.
Zhang Ai smiled at Jin Qiu. "Are you his subordinate?"
Jin Qiu looked at the girl. He remembered that in the novel, Zhang Ai was pictured as a very bright girl who will just say whatever inside her mind, and Jin Qiu doesn't like a person like that, a person who can't read the situation and just made things worse. Unfortunately though, such person is now standing in front of him. If he can, he would just walk away without caring about the girl, but he don't know what might happen if he do that.
"In a way, yes, I'm his subordinate. He is the Emperor after all, and I'm just a commander."
"I see…Does he have any lover?" Asked the girl again.
"Why would you ask something like that?"
"Ah, please don't get me wrong. You might not understand about this, but when I see your Emperor, I feel something different inside my heart. I was wondering why I felt this way."
'Because you are the female lead', is what Jin Qiu want to say, but he remained silent and looked to where Ren Zhengsheng stand, talking with some troop and give them order on how to handle things.
The female lead is feeling something different, or, one should just say love. But looking at Ren Zhengsheng now, the only thing that came to Jin Qiu's mind is that the man is crazy.
Despite being the Emperor, Ren Zhengsheng choose to stand at the frontline, pushing through the enemies line while having such a happy expression on his face. Then what about Jin Qiu? Jin Qiu will admit that he himself would enjoy it. In his previous world, he would always love it when there's a fight, though he can't kill carelessly since there's a law. But here? Who will stop him? This is a world where the strong can trample on the weak.
Jin Qiu takes a deep breath. He shouldn't be a crazy dog here. What he need to do after he win this war is to make sure the Emperor provide him with all kind of information he need.
"Capture the slave first!!" The villager that still not captured shouted while running towards where the slaves have been gathered. Of course, Jin Qiu was between them since he want to check on the children.
The villager was about to reach to one of the kids when his hand got slashed off by Jin Qiu. He fell back and screamed while looking at Jin Qiu with fear. "W-why are you doing something like this?! S-spare me! I will set you free! I promise that I will set you free!" The man begged as Jin Qiu walked closer to him.
"Set me free? Are you stupid or pretending to be stupid? I can kill you, so why should I let you live just so I can be free?"
From begging, the villager now became raged after what Jin Qiu said. He grabbed the sword of the dead bandit and tried to attack Jin Qiu. Of course, his foolish decision has sent him to his demise since Jin Qiu killed him without hesitation.
"Commander!!"
Jin Qiu looked at the guard who runs towards him.
"His Majesty ordered me to tell you that he took down the enemy's leader and he wants you to decide about what to do to the people in this village." The guard explained before he looked to the pale and frightened villagers.
All the man in this village is involved with the slavery.
Jin Qiu looked at the villagers for a moment before he made his decision. "Put all the man inside the jail. Woman, children, and elder are to remain in this village to farm. Every month, send half of the result to the palace as tribute. They can be free after 6 years, but before that, don't even think about leaving the village."
"They made a lot of people suffered; the punishment you gave them is too light." Zhang Ai complained.
"Then do you want me to kill them all? If I kill them all, they might have family outside of this village and they will try to have revenge. The cycle of murdered and murdering for the sake of revenge will happen. So rather than doing something like that, it's better to make them realize their mistake and have them atoned for their sins."
But even with that explanation, Zhang Ai still doesn't look satisfied.
"If it's me, then in order to ease the people who became their victim, I will make their family a slave too." Zhang Ai suddenly said.
"And that will only lead to another war." Jin Qiu replied. "I like to fight, but I don't like useless and meaningless fight."
"But this is-"
"What's wrong?"
The two turn around and looked at Ren Zhengsheng who came closer.
The man has blood on several spot of his clothes, but it doesn't look like the blood belonged to him.
He stopped beside Jin Qiu and stared at Zhang Ai for a moment. He heard the conversation from before, and that was why he felt interested with it. "Who is she?" He asked again even before his previous question got an answer. Though from the look on Jin Qiu's face, he knew that the girl is being disliked. "Are you not going to answer me, Qiu er?"
"She is-"
"My name is Zhang Ai, Your Majesty. The Princess of fallen Wufan Kingdom from Northern Continent."
"Ah...so you're the remained princess of Wufan that said to be missing. Who would have thought that you became a slave? Your people would be so happy if they know that their princess is still alive and is keeping up her dignity even as a slave."
"You flatter me, Your Majesty. As a thanks for saving me, how about I brew some tea for you? My tea has been famous to be the most delicious."
"No need. I'm not exactly coming here to save you. If you need anything else, you can tell the guard to help you. I will take my leave now."
Ignoring the advance of the princess, Ren Zhengsheng walked towards Jin Qiu who, he don't know when, distanced himself from them.
"If you're trying to approach His Majesty, I suggest you stop now." Duan Huifang warned while looking at Zhang Ai. She lives long enough to know what one thinking inside their head, and Zhang Ai definitely trying to get close to the Emperor.
Zhang Ai smiled. "Why?" She asked, looking at Duan Huifang with challenging gaze. "It's true that he is an Emperor and I'm just a fallen princess, but even so, I still hold a certain power at Wufan. Not to mention, I fell in love with him at first sight. If he marry me, the two place will become more prosperous."
"If His Majesty choose to stay here and talk with you instead approaching the Commander, then I won't warn you."
"What do you mean?"
"His Majesty already have one concubine that he adored so much, and that concubine is the commander that was here with you."
Zhang Ai looked shocked when she heard that and she quickly looked at Jin Qiu and Ren Zhengsheng who seemed to be getting along well.
It shouldn't be like this. Zhang Ai received a prophecy saying that the Emperor hate his concubine and thus, when he meet with her, the Emperor would fall in love with her and keep her by his side. But it didn't happen. Not only the Emperor didn't really look at her, but the man seemed to care about about the concubine more than her.
This won't do. She's willing to be captured as a slave because she want to be the Empress. She want to be loved by the young Emperor Ren Zhengsheng. Because of that, she started to think of a way to get rid of Jin Qiu.
❖
As the night getting late, the guards finished their job to take care of everything. But since Jin Qiu refused to stay at the village, they building a camp right beside the village. They still need to stay for another day to make sure that the bandits don't have any reinforcement.
Jin Qiu left everything to Ren Zhengsheng and went to take some nap near the lake he just found.
"If you feel tired, then you should sleep at the tent prepared by the guards." Ren Zhengsheng approached Jin Qiu who lay by the side of the lake. At first, he thought Jin Qiu will insist to control the troop since the man insisted to come along, but Jin Qiu just let him do whatever he want, even giving order to the troop without asking for permission.
"There's no one here, so what's the point of your concern towards me?"
"I never knew that the Commander of Jin Troop is someone who likes to keep a grudge deep inside his heart."
Jin Qiu opened his eyes and looked at the Emperor with a frown on his face. "When you showed me this kind of attention, I will be the one who felt uncomfortable. And also, our relationship now is nothing more than a business one. You need my figure and existence as the commander of Jin Troop and the only thing I need from you is your authority as the Emperor. Stop acting that way when there's no one around us."
"What if I don't want to do that?"
"Then we should end this as quickly as possible." Jin Qiu stood up but his hand got pulled by the Emperor and he fell on top of the man. "What kind of joke is this? You hate me, right? So what's the point of acting like this towards me?"
But without giving any answer, Ren Zhengsheng pressed his lips on Jin Qiu's. Though before the man could go for a deeper kiss, Jin Qiu punched him quite hard on the face and runs off.
Ren Zhengsheng wiped the slight blood from his lips and started to laugh. "How interesting. You are the first person who dare to do something like that to me." He got up and patted his clothes. The smile on his face slowly disappeared and returned to a cold gaze. "Why don't you come out now?"
Slowly, Zhang Ai stepped out from behind the tree.
"I never know that the Princess has a hobby to sneakily following someone."
"Of course not." Zhang Ai replied. "I'm doing this because I want to thank Your Majesty for your help."
Ren Zhengsheng looked at the Princess without saying anything. The Princess is indeed beautiful, but there's something about her that he doesn't like. This dislike is almost similar to his dislike towards Jin Family and Jin Qiu before, so he doesn't even want to spend a long time with her.
"Your Majesty."
The Princess reached to his hand but he pulled it back right away. "I told you before that I didn't come here to help you, so there's no need to thank me. And please stop this disgusting act right away. I might end up killing you later." He warned before leaving the girl alone.
As he walked away though, he could see the girl clenched her fist. Her aim was him, so sooner or later, she will try to get rid of anything that get in her way. And in this matter, she will definitely trying to go for Jin Qiu. Ren Zhengsheng unconciously smiled. After seeing how much Jin Qiu changed, he can't help but to look forward about what will the man do when trouble like this come to him.
❖❖❖