Chapter 192 (Part 2): Celebrate Too Early
Translated by Gumihou
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After hearing Su Dong Lou’s analysis, Duan Tingxuan and Su Nuan Nuan exchanged a long glance with each other. After some time, Su Nuan Nuan said faintly, “This is… a credit to our acting, right? Why did it sound so wrong? Could it be that we have absolutely no sense of dignity or air nobleness at all?”
“Don’t think too much about it. Our characters are basically servants after all, what air of nobleness do you expect? Obviously our acting skills are too incredible. In the future, once we successfully completed our mission, we might even go down in history for our incredible acting.” Duan Tingxuan did his best to comfort his wife.
Su Dong Lou snickered from the side, “Well, even though the enemy had lowered their guard, you two better not be careless. That Lu Feng Yu is too sinister for words, he may decide to create traps for you out of the blue. In fact, I suspect that dirty old beggar was test sent for you two.”
“No matter what, it’s a good thing that their scrutiny has reduced a little.” Su Nuan Nuan breathed a long sigh a relief as she smacked the table happily. “En, I will make two good dishes tomorrow to celebrate our small success. Though we haven’t actually reached the main event yet, we may count reducing the enemy’s suspicion as a small victory.”
Su Nuan Nuan was truly happy. However, she soon found that she had celebrated a little too early…
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“You… you disgraceful thing. Why would I steal that useless rubbish? You better let go of me soon. Once I inform my master of this none of you will be able to swallow the consequences.”
Hao Dong continued to struggle in the grips of dozens of peasant farmers. Chang San and two other servants did their best to defend their fellow comrade. Meanwhile, the newest servant, the one their master paid most attention to, collapsed after one accidental punch from the mob. That useless slave then crept off into a corner to hide. No wonder this guy fears his wife, what a ball-less wretch!
Even under these circumstances, Hao Dong did not forget to do his best to observe everything around him. He was so regretful that even his guts were all black and blue. Whatever, all the couldn’ts and shouldn’ts in the world can’t change the fact his momentary surge of greed had lead him into this predicament. When he saw the small ebony box within the memorial hall, his hand automatically swiped the box away. While making his way back, he was suddenly beset by a bunch of these yokels. How could they have discovered the loss of the box so quickly was beyond him, before he was able to properly hide the box, they had him in their grip.
“Enough of your act, we already noticed your unnatural interest in our ancestor’s ebony box earlier. The moment you left, our box disappeared. If not you, then who stole it? Go ahead and report to your backer, Master Dong. We’re not afraid. We caught you stealing from us, would he actually blame us for taking action?”
“You… how dare you ‘Spit blood over others [1]?” burdened with guilt, Hao Dong’s voice grew more overbearing and shrill. An old farmer said, “Since you refuse to admit anything, then we shall search you and your bags. Let’s see what you have to say next.” Without waiting for Hao Dong to protest, they immediately seized his bag.
Hao Dong’s face paled, he’d only managed to yelp out a protest when the old man triumphantly lifted the ebony box out of his bag. This time, not even Chang San or the other two servants could say anything.
They actually came to this little village to collect rent and had stopped by the ancestral hall to shelter from a sudden rain. That was when they saw the ebony box enshrined on top of the memorial table. It was not a very large box, but like Russian nesting dolls, there was a smaller box within, and another smaller one within that box. Altogether, there were nine ebony boxes from largest to the smallest. It was all exquisitely made, and aside from their sizes, were pretty much identical to each other. Even without gold filigree or decorations, one could tell that these boxes were incredibly valuable.
With the rain pouring outside, everyone took the time to marvel at this curious boxes. Once the rain stopped, they made their way back, but who would have thought that not a few minutes later, several dozen farmers arrived to announce that one of the boxes was missing and bit down on the accusation that Hao Dong was the culprit. Their argument was that Hao Dong had been suspiciously close to those boxes this whole time.
Naturally, Chang San and the rest did not believed this and began protest. However, when the item tumbled out of Hao Dong’s personal luggage, what else could they say? The servants all stared at each other, unsure what to do next.
Finally, Chang San glared at the pale white Hao Dong and turned away to discuss matters with his other companions. He then turned to the old man who had opened up Hao Dong’s luggage to say, “Old sir, we will of course give you justice over this matter. You may lock this man up under your discretion. Our master will send someone over to handle the matter of the theft, what do you think?”
“No way, what if your people just take him away? What are we to do then?”
Though the old gentlemen was a farmer, he was incredibly quick-witted and sharp, and refused to just blindly agree to anything. Chang San smiled proudly, “You should know who our master is? Do you think he would tolerate having a servant with dirty paws serving him? However, no matter what, this man is still one of my master’s servants and thus it is only right for the master to discipline him. How about this, you keep this man locked up. We will bring judgement on this man before your eyes, how about it?”
With the promise that they will not simply just take the culprit away from them, the old man thought about it for a moment before giving his agreement. The ebony box was their little village’s precious treasure. For over 500 years it had stayed safe within the ancestral hall,
To think that it was nearly stolen right under their noses was just too infuriating! Humph, they really did not care who the backers of this Dong fellow is, don’t think about trying to get this fellow off lightly. At the very least, they want both arms chopped off for attempted theft!
[Gumihou: And here ends Part 2. Wow, the locals are brutal!]
[1] Spit blood over others – slander, malicious attacks.
^_^
Translated by Gumihou from kitchennovel dot com.
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