Chapter 19
"Spare us, Your Highness, we're just poor folks, we really don't have any money... if you must kill, spare my son and kill me," Li Gousheng nearly lost his soul from fear.
"Who said I'm going to kill you? Stand up and talk."
Quivering with fear, the four of them stood up. Li Gousheng said, "If you're not going to kill us, what are you going to do? We have nothing."
"I heard you say earlier that you were planning on buying a horse, is that right?"
Li Gousheng was bewildered by their excited expressions. Meekly, he replied, "I can't afford a horse. My eldest son can't get married because we can't afford the dowry. If we had a donkey to use in the farm, it would be easier to find a match for him."
"Ha ha, your luck has improved! I just happen to sell horses. Are you excited? Aren't you feeling fortunate?"
Li Gousheng now had thoughts of wanting to drop dead. Surely, he thought, he must have chosen an ill-fated day to leave his house. Running into two bandits was, of course, terribly exciting. Especially given the thrill of not knowing whether he could survive.
"But I don't have that much money?"
"Hmm... you still have to pay me after all. How much do you have?"
"Two...two copper coins." Li Gousheng carefully took out two nearly worn-out copper coins from his clothing.
Cheekily, Cheng Dalei took a look at them: "What else do you have on you?"
"We have four wild vegetable pancakes. My mother made it for our journey to stave off hunger."
They unwrapped the parcel to reveal four burnt pancakes. Cheng Dalei broke off a piece and passed it to Lin Shaoyu.
"Tastes alright?"
"Hmm, not bad."
Cheng Dalei and Lin Shaoyu shared a glance and walked to the side to whisper to each other.
"Boss, the price's a bit low for two copper coins and four vegetable pancakes, isn't it?"
"I know it's low- but what can we do if we can't sell them? Are we really going to kill and eat them?"
"Maybe we should sell the horses to them. They're poor and can't afford anything else."
"So you're suggesting we sell the horses?"
"Sell."
Li Gousheng and his sons watched the two men from behind, their hearts pounding. Falling into bandit's hands, nothing good could come from it. A quick death, perhaps getting their heads chopped off, was just one of the possibilities.
"Ha ha."
A sudden burst of laughter from Cheng Dalei scared them into nearly falling onto their knees again.
"Alright, you're lucky I'm doing business for the first time today. Let's head up the mountain."
"Head up the mountain!" Li Gousheng exclaimed, horrified. He was sure they were intending on capturing him and his sons and forcing them to become bandits. He implored, "If you're going to capture someone, capture me. At least spare my son. There must be someone left to carry on the Li Family lineage."
"What! You don't want to go up the mountain!" Cheng Dalei raised his axe, eager for action. Seeing this, Li Gousheng didn't dare speak again.
"Let's go up. Young Hero Lin, please take good care of our customers."
Leading the way was Lin Shaoyu, followed by Cheng Dalei with his axe, and in-between, the four members of the Li family.
Their souls were about to leave their bodies. Their lives felt like they were hanging by a thread, which could snap at any moment.
"Dad... Do you think they'll kill us?" asked Li San.
"Son, be strong. We can't show weakness."
"Dad, stop shaking your legs before you say that."
"When they want to kill us, I'll fight them to the death. Xiao San, you must escape. You are the hope of our family."
Their legs trembled with each step as if they were treading on clouds. The path they were on wasn't one leading up a mountain, but rather to the gates of hell. Seeing the gates of the stronghold from a distance made them feel as gray as death. Getting out of the stronghold once you were in was no easy task.
"Gentlemen, follow me!" Lin Shaoyu led them to the horse paddock.
"I'm going to fight..." Li Gousheng roared, but suddenly stopped when he saw the paddock.
"Fight what?" Lin Shaoyu looked at him, puzzled.
"Fight to the death?" Cheng Dalei asked. "Hurry up, pick one."
All four of them were shell-shocked. The horse paddock was jam-packed with horses of all colors - black, white, red, gray... There were so many that they seemed to be squeezed together. Each horse held its head high, fully saddled. These weren't ordinary horses, but sturdy warhorses. In terms of strength, size, and form, they were unmatched by common horses.
The three Li Brothers' mouths watered when they saw the horses. What man wouldn't want to ride gallantly on a horse, roaming freely under the open sky?
Feeling as if he was in a dream, Li Gousheng stammered, "Your Majesty, you really want to sell them to us?"
"Hmm, how many do you want?"
"One."
"Just one! I've made so much effort and you only want one?" Cheng Dalei scowled.
"Or two?" Li Gousheng nervously held up two fingers, hoping he wouldn't offend the 'Mountain King' by being too greedy.
"Only two." Cheng Dalei frowned even more. "You've three sons. Shouldn't each one of them get a horse? And you should get one too. What do you think about four horses?"
The three Li brothers excitedly gestured for their father to agree. Li Gousheng shot them a stern glance and reluctantly replied: "We can't afford to keep them."
"Then let's settle for two." Suddenly Cheng Dalei remembered something. "Can you harvest wheat?"
"We're all farmers. Of course, we can harvest wheat."
"Good. As long as each one of you can reap an acre of wheat before it gets dark, I'll let you lead away two horses."
Cheng Dalei nodded at Lin Shaoyu. Impressed, Lin Shaoyu gave him a thumbs up. The Boss was extremely smart. Both of them heaved a sigh of relief for having dodged a bullet.
They led, or rather, escorted the four of them to the wheat field, giving them a sickle each to harvest wheat. In the end, Cheng Dalei did not escape his fate either. Xu Shenji stuffed a sickle into his hand. Xu Shenji's action that upset Cheng Dalei the most was that Lin Shaoyu had slipped away under the pretense of selling more horses down the mountain.
The sickles swept across the field, harvesting sheaf after sheaf of wheat under the summer sun. Cheng Dalei stood upright, wiping the sweat off his brow.
"Boss, you're slacking off!" Xu Shenji chided.
"No, I'm not! Can't you see I've been working hard?"
"Hurry up, we won't have time for dinner." Xu Shenji urged.
As he looked out at the large golden wheat fields under the sun, Cheng Dalei felt somewhat dazed. He realized that the Frog Fort seemed more and more like a little home. Qin Man was his honest big brother, Lin Shaoyu his stubborn younger brother, Xu Ling'er was his mischievous and charming... fiancee, yes, that's it - fiancee. Then naturally, Xu Shenji was his meddlesome father-in-law...
None of the four Li family members dared to say a word, scared they would annoy the 'Mountain King'.
"Dad, do you think he will really give us the horses?"
"Stop dreaming and get back to work."
"I guess he means if we don't finish harvesting before dark, he'll send us to meet Yama."
The four of them tirelessly harvested the wheat. As farmers, they were used to strenuous work. Under the threat of death, they tapped into their hidden potential. Large areas of the wheat field were harvested, and wheat sheaves were bundled up and taken back to the stronghold's training ground.
"Your Majesty, do you need us to help thresh the wheat?"
"No need. Go choose your two horses."
Could it be... he really was going to give us horses?