Chapter 80 - Familiar Voice
"I think we will deal with the notorious Longjing Bandit. We are in great danger, and we can not treat them so lightly," Zhao Yun is reporting to everyone at the table.
"Why do you think that we are dealing with them? Anyway, we are in between two hard choices, and the best one is to deal with a human being rather than nature. Do you think our survival rate will be greater if we are riding through this thick fog?" Jin Yu is asking him.
"You are right, your highness. It is wiser to face human being rather than mother nature," Zhao Yun sits down at the table when Xiao Nie and the old madame bring some dishes from the kitchen. There are some famous fish dishes and fish soup with some vegetable's dishes. Xiao Nie is serving the rice bowl to them.
"Madame, please join us for dinner tonight. We are wanted to express our gratitude to you," Ni Qing is smiling and offering her and his husband, who finish from the second floor, to prepare their room.
"Thank you… are you sure? You are all our guest, and we are not supposed to eat with the guest as patron," the old madame is asking as it has been a long time for her to eat proper rice and fish. Xiao Nie is bringing a bag of rice just in case from the whole sack of rice, and She cooks it for dinner time as instructed by Eunuch Wang. The emperor needs to have his proper meal even on the road.
"I am really sure, and please join us for a meal," Ni Qing can see that the woman is malnourished from the little food.
They are looking at each other before both of them is joining the table with them. Ni Qing is squeezing the seat with Jin Yu. Eunuch Wang, standing behind Jin Yu, bowing to Ni Qing and whispering, "Your Highness consort Qing, no one allowed to share a seat with the emperor during mealtime."
"Why? Are you serious? We are not in the palace at the moment. How can he share his bed with someone else but cannot share his seat during mealtime? This is absurd," Ni Qing cannot believe the rule about the emperor and live in the palace.
"Yes, your highness. Apparently, it is the rule, and no one can bend it over," Eunuch Wang tells Ni Qing.
"Can I retreat and annul our married? I will not marry anyone and dedicating myself to nurture my economy and business. I can not get used to all the silly rule inside the palace," Ni Qing is complaining before she is picking up the food on the table and devour it. Ni Qing picks his husband solemn expression and eating the food serves by Eunuch Wang. She can see his royal elegant demeanour show from his body language. No one can eat as beautiful as he is without any voice. Jin Yu is banging his chopstick on the table after he hears Ni Qing complain about their marriages.
"Do not dare to think about that! If you dare to do as your wish, then I will chain you to the bed and not let you out for the rest of your life," Jin Yu pinches her cheek before he continues to eat his meal in quiet.
"You two looks so suitable to each other. Is that your first child?" the old madame is opening the conversation.
"yes, this is my first son for my beloved husband. I hope this baby can continue his father and handsome like his father," Ni Qing is looking at Jin Yu so lovely. Ni Sheng and Lin Yue both automatically burst out their rice to see Ni Qing coquettish act in front of Jin Yu.
"Sis… you never act like that with Ah Yue, and now, you change like a woman in the brothel in front of your husband. Is something wrong with your brain?" Ni Sheng is wiping his mouth and drink some water after the burst out. Thankfully their spit falls only into the table, and Eunuch Li is cleaning up the table from the rice burst out incident.
"Why I cannot be intimate with my own husband? Find yourself a wife then, my little brother or the rumour is true that you are looking out for Wang Bo for a special relationship?" Ni Qing is teasing her little brother, making Wang Bo, who sits opposite of Zhang, spit out the water into Zhang's face. Everyone is laughing except Jin Yu, who is keeping his cold composure in front of everyone.
"Madame Qing, why do you have to bring me into your squabble with young lord Ni? Sorry, General Zhang… I do not mean to spit into your face," Wang Bo tries to apologize to Zhang. At least, Xiao Nie is helping to clean his face with clean linen.
They are laughing to see each other. It has been a long time for the old couple to see such a harmonious and lively group in their inn. However, it has been like a ghost place for them when the group of bandits start to claim this region into their palm. One by one tries to avoid passing this way into the southern region and affecting the local government rule as the bandit will intercept everything into their hands.
Suddenly, there is a loud bang in the Inn entrances with a loud sound. In there, many men with their rowdy and hoodlum appearance filling the room with the weapon in their hand. They make noise and tries to scare everyone in the room. They are looking happy after a while they manage to catch a big fish.
Zhang, Wang Bo, Lin Yue, Ni Sheng and Zhao Yun are standing up and covering the rest. The old couple knows this group well enough to make them shiver and frighten. They are making way for small image and fat image to enter the room.
As soon as they enter the room, Ni Qing is smiling to see the familiar face inside this room apart from their group. There a youngers man with a long scar in his face from the forehead crossing to his eyes, nose and into his cheek and neck. Next to him, the old fat guy tries to become scary while the younger man is giving him away and respect. The others guy is bald skinny and young who is following the old fat guy.
Ni Sheng and Lin Yue are looking to each other's after seeing the group of leaders who enters the room. They can feel the excitement of the girl behind them. Jin Yu is shielding Ni Qing from the hoodlum in the area. He withdraws his sword from the cover and ready to attack when Ni Qing nudges him and told him to put his sword down.
"Oh, My…. Is that really my brother Huo?" Ni Qing is shouting from behind of Jin Yu. Ni Sheng and Lin Yue are putting back their sword and sitting down again. They are well aware when it comes to Ni Qing means something embarrassing will happen.
"Hey, Yue… what makes you to fall in love with my crazy sister? I still cannot understand when she always picks on you," Ni Sheng is picking up his chopstick and tries to ignore the whole incident.
"I really do not know the start, but I do agree with you. I am glad that I do not have to marry her and bound to take care of her craziness every day. I fell pity to that fatso to become her victim," Lin Yue is sipping his hot tea. Jin Yu is amused to see the two men behaviour as soon as Ni Qing is talking with the bandits.
Brother Huo starts to fell something bad will come to his way after he hears the familiar voice. He just recovered from the nightmare inside the jail. It was not the jail, but the girl who become his bad luck charm comes in every way she can toward him. in his life, he never meets such a cunning shameful woman like her. His brother picks him up from the capital and makes their way out when one of his brother subordinates mentions these whales passing their area.
This time, they can get so much money from this merchant group who is coming out from the capital. The rumour mentions this group carrying two chests of money and gold to buy some merchandise from the south. However, the southern region governor does not want any outsider to come to their region regardless of their business. He makes a deal with Brother Huo groups to stop and robe all merchant or guest on their way to the south region. This way, no one can help the person in his region while he does his own corrupt and business from the southern region. he want to seize the southern area only for his own agenda.