Chapter 26: Yu Baosi: The horses, I want them! The gold, I want that too!
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Yu Bao-si frowned.
“Stop talking nonsense!
“The horse wandered off on its own. I merely happened to come across it!
“Besides, it went missing outside Dongchang Prefecture. This is Lingzhou. How could the authorities possibly track it down here?”
Cai Fu gave a cold laugh. “If we buy this horse, are we supposed to keep it at home and never ride it out?”
Cai Qing chimed in, “What if we ride out and run into the horse’s owner? He could seize us and drag us before the authorities. How would we explain ourselves then?”
Yu Bao-si grew impatient. “You’ll save a great deal of gold and silver. What’s wrong with taking on a little risk?”
“Enough! Young master isn’t short of money!”
Yan Qing snorted. “Tell us, fellow, how much exactly would we save?”
Yu Bao-si rolled his eyes.
“The fine steeds from the Zeng Estate start at five hundred taels of gold apiece!
“My horse is no worse than theirs. Since you want us to shoulder some of the risk, I’ll charge only four hundred taels of gold. How about that?”
“How can you guarantee that it’s no worse than theirs?” Cai Fu pressed. “The Zeng Estate is right here. If we buy one of their horses and something goes wrong, we can go straight to them!
“If we buy yours and something goes wrong, whom are we supposed to find?”
Cai Qing chimed in again. “If you’re only making it one hundred taels cheaper, and we still have to bear the risk, we might as well buy from the Zeng Estate!”
Yan Qing gave a cold laugh. “Do you think young master cares about a mere hundred taels?”
Good heavens!
Pelted by their retorts one after another, Yu Bao-si was rendered speechless. He could only glance helplessly at Baldy.
Baldy understood at once and hurried to help.
“Fourth Brother, I can see that this gentleman truly wants to buy the horse!
“Why don’t both sides take a step back? You lower the price by another hundred taels, and they take on a little more of the risk. Wouldn’t that settle the deal?”
Wait a moment!
Yu Bao-si felt his brain beginning to fail him.
You call that both sides taking a step back?
You fool, whose side are you on?
Cai Qing gave Baldy a thumbs-up.
“Fair enough!”
Cai Fu then took three hundred taels of gold from his bundle.
“Enough, enough. We’ll accept a small loss!
“Sir, mount up!”
Unable to conceal the excitement in his eyes, Yan Qing still put on an affected scowl and cursed, “Idiot! Who pays that readily?”
Cai Qing complained, “Sir, we’ve been on the road half the day without so much as a bite of food or a sip of water. Let’s buy the horse and go home already!”
Cai Fu went to pull the kylin steed. Since the beast was unfamiliar with him, it naturally fought with all its strength—but how could it possibly overpower him?
“Forget it, sir. Let’s go!”
As he urged them along, Cai Fu hauled the kylin steed away.
“Taking a small loss is still taking a small loss. They say suffering a loss brings blessings!”
Stunned, Yu Bao-si clutched the gold in both hands and watched helplessly as Cai Fu and the others led away the kylin steed.
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No, wait. Who exactly had suffered the loss?
Baldy approached with an ingratiating smile, rubbing his hands together like a fly.
“Fourth Brother, hehe... What about my share?”
“Hmph!”
Yu Bao-si shot him a glare. “You’ll get yours!”
As he spoke, Yu Bao-si greedily counted the gold.
“One pair, two pairs, three pairs... No, that’s not right!”
After counting it three times, Yu Bao-si flew into a rage.
“Damn them!
“They only gave me two hundred and fifty taels!”
Baldy stared blankly. “That can’t be right. Fourth Brother, count it again.”
“I’ve already counted it three times!”
Yu Bao-si exploded. He slapped Baldy hard on the back of the head, cursing with every blow.
“Both sides take a step back! Both sides take a step back! Both sides take a step back!”
“Ow! Fourth Brother, stop hitting me!”
Baldy covered his head with both hands and wailed, “Can’t we just follow the usual routine, catch up with them, and seize the horse back?”
Yu Bao-si thought it over.
“That’s true!”
Actually, Yu Bao-si did not reclaim the horses every time. Otherwise, how could Horsehead Market continue doing business?
But this time, Yu Bao-si felt he had been cheated beyond measure!
Not only had he lost gold, he had lost face as well!
“I’ll make them lose both their man and their money!
“No, all three!”
Cursing under his breath, Yu Bao-si kicked Baldy aside.
“Go!
“Gather the men. We’re giving chase!”
A quarter of an hour later, a large number of mounted bandits split up, leading their horses at an unhurried pace out of the horse market and through the town.
When they reached the Three-Fork River Landing, the village women were still washing clothes. The especially rough-spoken one called out to Yu Bao-si:
“Fourth, off to the prefectural city to steal another woman?”
Yu Bao-si had been frantic with impatience, but now he pretended to be as calm as a flower on a distant mountain, leading his horse slowly along the riverbank.
At the rough woman’s question, all the village women burst into raucous laughter. Yu Bao-si widened his eyes.
“How can you slander an innocent man out of thin air?”
“What innocence?”
The especially rough woman refused to let up.
“I saw you steal that little lady from the He family with my own eyes the other day!
“And then chase after her while she beat you!”
Yu Bao-si’s face flushed red. The veins on his forehead bulged as he argued, “Stealing a woman doesn’t count as stealing... stealing a woman!
“...If it’s something both parties willingly agree to, how can you call it stealing?”
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Yu Bao-si continued arguing as he walked, spouting one incomprehensible phrase after another, things like “guarding an empty room alone” and “lying awake on a lonely pillow.”
The village women erupted in laughter, and the entire river landing filled with a joyous atmosphere.
Once they had passed the Three-Fork River Landing, Yu Bao-si gave a sharp whistle. The mounted bandits swung onto their horses and galloped away at full speed!
“Rumble, rumble... rumble, rumble...”
Led by Yu Bao-si, more than fifty mounted bandits pursued Cai Fu and the others like the wind.
Fortunately for Yu Bao-si, they had not gone far. They were resting at a little pavilion ten miles away.
“Whoa!”
Yu Bao-si charged straight to the pavilion and only then hauled back on the reins, looking down arrogantly at Cai Fu and the others.
Cai Fu, Cai Qing, and Yan Qing appeared to be completely terrified. They sat inside the pavilion, calmly chewing dry rations.
“You’re still eating?”
Yu Bao-si dismounted and strode toward Yan Qing with a savage grin. He slapped the flatbread from Yan Qing’s hand.
“I’ve come for you!”
What he had not expected was for Yan Qing to twist his wrist nimbly, causing the blow to miss completely.
“Huh?”
Yu Bao-si froze.
Who would have thought that this handsome, wealthy young man would also possess such blindingly quick hands?
But it did not matter. The more than fifty mounted bandits under his command had already surrounded the little pavilion.
One by one, they sat on horseback with crooked brows and vicious faces, weapons in hand, circling the pavilion again and again.
The pressure was overwhelming!
“Where’s the horse?”
Yu Bao-si swept his gaze over the three horses tied to the pavilion posts. The kylin steed was nowhere to be seen, and he grew frantic.
“Where did my thousand-mile horse go?”
Cai Fu grinned. “Where’s our gold?”
At the mention of the gold, Yu Bao-si became even more furious. He turned, mounted his horse, drew his saber, and pointed it viciously at Cai Fu.
“I want the horse!
“I want the gold too!
“If you can’t hand them over, every one of you will die today!”
Cai Fu finished his flatbread, dusted the sesame seeds from his palms, and dragged his ghost-headed saber toward Yu Bao-si.
“What a coincidence. We were thinking the same thing.”
Yu Bao-si was so enraged by Cai Fu that he nearly laughed.
“You fool, can’t you see who’s in control of the situation right now—”
“Slash!”
Cai Fu charged forward and struck with his saber!
The blow seemed capable of splitting heaven and earth!
Where the cold radiance burst forth, a horse’s head as large as a grain basket went rolling to the ground!
A cloud of blood sprayed across Yu Bao-si’s face, leaving him drenched in red and utterly stupefied...
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