Chapter 913 - 915: How Did It Change Like This?_1
A group of us had traveled around several places in Jiangnan and then returned, preparing to take a boat via the water route, which brought us back to Jiuzi City. This time, though, instead of encountering the bully Chen Qiang, we stumbled upon a different matter.
The plan was to stay in Jiuzi City for a day to gather enough food and medicinal supplies for the journey on water. Since the last visit was so rushed, we decided to explore the city, which seemed far more interesting than lingering in an inn.
In Jiuzi City, indeed, there were many rare and exotic items for sale, many of which had originated from Chengshui Country.
Bai Ruozhu bought a whistle made from a conch for Dengdeng to play with. When blown with force, it produced a sound, and Dengdeng was especially delighted, clutching it tightly and excitedly yelling, "babababa," which sounded a bit like he was calling for "daddy," but he was just beginning to talk, and that particular sound was easier for him to make.
Tu Ying spotted a curved dagger that she found intriguing and started haggling with the merchant over its price. At that moment, several beggars gathered around us, some older and others just five or six years old, all in tattered clothing with wild, unkempt hair, and faces smeared with dirt.
"Miss, please be kind and give us some money!"
"Sister, please, I haven’t eaten in two days."
"Kind people get good karma, please give us a couple of coins!"
Bai Ruozhu’s heart softened as a child of about five or six looked up at her with expectant, shiny black eyes. She took out some copper coins and put more than a dozen in the child’s battered bowl, then dropped some into each of the other beggars’ bowls.
When it came to the last person, she hesitated to give, for while the other beggars were either elderly or children, this one was clearly a young adult. A young man who was not disabled should be able to earn his own money through labor, even if it meant hard work, right?
Just as she was about to voice her refusal, she lifted her head to look at his face and let out a gasp.
"Ah, Qin Kaichang, what are you doing here?"
Hearing her cry, Tu Ying abandoned her haggling over the curved knife and rushed over, asking, "Where’s Qin Kaichang?"
Perhaps Bai Ruozhu’s call was too loud. The beggars, mistaking her for someone who had encountered a foe or a debtor, took the reward money and scattered in fear.
Qin Kaichang himself looked terrified, as if he hadn’t realized someone was calling his name, and turned to run away.
"Jianqi!" Bai Ruozhu cried out, and Jianqi swiftly grabbed Qin Kaichang.
The broken bowl slipped from Qin Kaichang’s hands and shattered on the ground. He covered his head and screamed, "Help! I don’t want the money, don’t beat me, please don’t beat me!"
Bai Ruozhu and Tu Ying exchanged puzzled glances.
"Could it be that he doesn’t recognize us?" Tu Ying asked with a mix of shock and suspicion.
Bai Ruozhu stepped forward and grabbed Qin Kaichang’s dirty wrist to examine it closely. Soon after, her expression turned grim.
"He has suffered a severe blow to the head, and there is still some bruising. It’s likely that his behavior and memory are affected," Bai Ruozhu said, releasing his hand. Her eyes couldn’t help but drift back to Qin Kaichang’s dirty hands. Those hands bore numerous scars, some from abrasions, others from being struck with heavy objects—it was not hard to imagine what Qin Kaichang had been through these past days.
"Don’t seize me, I, I don’t know anything!" Qin Kaichang was still crying out in horror when Bai Ruozhu gave Jianqi a meaningful look and said, "Let’s take him back first. At least we’ve found him, and his injury can be gradually treated."
Jianqi understood and sealed Qin Kaichang’s mute acupoint. Bai Ruozhu and Tu Ying lost their desire to shop and took Qin Kaichang directly back to the Inn.
The Inn’s shopkeeper saw them bringing in a beggar and stepped forward to stop them, but Bai Ruozhu threw him two taels of silver, and he immediately stopped objecting.
"Send someone to bring more hot water and get a bathing tub ready. There will be a reward afterward if everything is done well," Bai Ruozhu said.
"Alright!" The shopkeeper happily went to instruct the Waiter to get to work.
Bai Ruozhu asked Jianqi to help clean Qin Kaichang and to check if there were other injuries on his body. Jianqi listened with a slight flicker in his eyes but said nothing and walked away.
It took Bai Ruozhu a while to realize that Jianqi was actually reluctant from the bottom of his heart; he just didn’t want to go against her orders. Thinking about it, Jianqi was a renowned dark guard of the Commerce Association, and she had asked him to attend to someone, doing what a little maid would do. No wonder he was unhappy.
Bai Ruozhu smiled bitterly, realizing it was because there were no maids or young servants around her. It was indeed something she should have asked another dark guard to do.
After changing the water about three times, Qin Kaichang was more or less clean, returning to the appearance of a handsome young man, but there was a deep guard in his eyes, and he seemed somewhat foolish.
However, Qin Kaichang’s situation was different from Bai Ruolan’s. He simply had a contusion on his brain that could be resolved through medication and acupuncture, and then he could recover.
At that moment, the Dean from the outside and his group returned, and Bai Ruozhu opened the door to tell them, "We have found Qin Kaichang."
The crowd was immediately excited and all rushed into the Room to see Qin Kaichang. Bai Zepei somehow squeezed in, and his eyes had already turned red when he saw Qin Kaichang.
Bai Ruozhu simply explained to everyone how they encountered Qin Kaichang and detailed his current condition. Seeing that Qin Kaichang did not recognize any of them, everyone seemed somewhat disappointed but felt even more sympathy for his plight.
"I will treat him, and perhaps by the time we return to Beiyu City, he will have recovered," Bai Ruozhu said, patting her elder brother’s shoulder.
Bai Zepei nodded and said nothing more.
Because Qin Kaichang was somewhat scared, everyone didn’t stay long and dispersed back to their own rooms. Bai Zepei repeatedly insisted on taking care of Qin Kaichang personally, and Bai Ruozhu found it difficult to object. Fortunately, her elder brother’s health had much improved, and the hard work wouldn’t harm him fundamentally.
Everyone had left when Bai Zepei heaved a heavy sigh, as if talking to himself and perhaps also for Bai Ruozhu to hear.
"The most unfortunate one from our trip to Jiangnan for the Competition is certainly Kaichang, suffering these Tribulations without gaining a thing. We return home in glory, while he begged on the street. If we had known this would happen, we really shouldn’t have lingered in our travels. It would have been better to come to Jiuzi City earlier to rescue him," Bai Zepei said with a tone deep in self-reproach.
"Elder brother, everything is predestined. If we had come to Jiuzi City earlier, maybe I would not have encountered the beggar, nor would I have met Qin Kaichang. At least heaven has been kind to him, allowing him to come back. Everything will get better," Bai Ruozhu consoled him.
Bai Zepei nodded again and remained silent.
"I know you are troubled, feeling like you have dragged Qin Kaichang into this. You shouldn’t be the kind of person to dwell on this. You need to understand why someone tried to steal your clothes that day—it was to lure away the dark guards and to assassinate Tu Bai. Those events aren’t connected to you or Tu Bai; they’re related to politics, something beyond our control and not a burden for us to bear. All we need to do is use our abilities to prevent and save wherever we can."