The merchants inside the house couldn’t help but reveal a grin. "As expected. These warriors have no backbone. If you give them money or beauties, they’ll do whatever you want them to do. Well, it’s a pity about the boy though. He really was pretty. That kind of exotic beauty might have sold for a high price."
Mister Zai picked up his chopsticks again and returned his attention to his food. "How is that a pity? Let him and his men have some fun with the boy. If he keeps to that promise of only one or two men a night, then the boy will be able to be sold after a bit of rest. And even though we can’t prove that he’s a virgin, we’ll at least be able to sell him as an experienced sex-slave this way, won’t we? I’m sure there will be some men that will be willing to pay a high price for that as well." He chuckled and continued to eat, the other men joining in with a laugh.
Outside, Hou Dong hit the palm tree, making the big leaves rustle loudly, one of it even falling to the ground.
His men that sat close by, couldn’t help but wince. These bloody merchants! What had these fuckers done? Even though their Master had a slightly erratic temper, he wasn’t like this normally. These guys should have said something wrong.
Seeing the bad mood their Master was in most of them preferred to pretend they weren’t there or had fallen asleep. The only one that used the opportunity to rush over was Sun Jin. He gave a big smile and leaned closer to their Master, lowering his voice. "Master, if those merchants annoyed you, then how about we teach them a lesson?" He couldn’t help but think that this was just perfect. Before, he had said something that offended his Master but now these guys had volunteered to take the hate of him. Why shouldn’t he take them up on their offer and stoke the fire a bit? They had practically asked for it!
Hou Dong narrowed his eyes. True. Why shouldn’t they teach them a lesson? They deserved it. He glanced over at the beauty and his rage boiled even hotter. Even if he wasn’t interested, this wasn’t the way to treat somebody. He might not be a citizen of their Hua country, but he was also a human being. They didn’t know where he came from or what type of person he had been there. How could they decide to make him a slave for some old, lewd man? No, he wouldn’t let that happen!
Hou Dong turned to Sun Jin and clasped his shoulder. "Sun Jin, this is the first time since we know each other that I think you actually had a great idea. Go and call the others over. I think there are some things we need to talk about."
Sun Jin’s face lit up and he nodded eagerly, running off to get the others.
Soon enough, Hou Dong and his men converged on the other side of the pond, whispering in hushed voices. Hou Dong had pulled the beauty over too. This also concerned him and with the plan he had in mind, the beauty’s help would be needed. So it was a must to involve him from the very beginning to make sure he wouldn’t misunderstand anything.
"So what do we do, Master? Leave them stranded in the desert? Ditch them in the city and then pretend to be bandits and rob them when they’re on the way back?" Sun Jin’s eyes sparkled when he thought of all the possibilities how they could screw those merchants over.
Hou Dong glanced at him and gave a smirk. "Not bad, Sun Jin. You actually have some ideas. I’m thinking of something bigger though, something that won’t put us into trouble while giving them a major headache. Alright, here’s the thing: They gave us the wrong information but when I confronted them about it, they refused to admit their mistakes, even going so far as to heap accusations on our heads."
His men frowned while the beauty just looked at him in confusion.
"What the fuck did these guys say we did? Haven’t we done our job well? Nothing happened on the way here, did it?"
Hou Dong nodded and reached over to the youth, rubbing his neck. "Apparently, we damaged their goods. Now, they don’t know how to sell them."
Sun Jin raised his brows. "When did we damage their goods? We didn’t even touch them!" He looked over to the carriages only to get a slap from Duan Bao.
"Where the fuck are you looking? They’re talking about the beauty our Master found."
Sun Jin turned back and looked at the youth. "Ah? How is that their goods? Wouldn’t that be ours?"
Hou Dong nodded and pulled the youth closer. "That’s what I told them. Unfortunately, they don’t feel like agreeing to that. So neither do they want to give us the money nor do they want to give us a person. Well, that’s not quite right. They said that this might just be a big misunderstanding and that they would magnanimously forgive us for being this troublesome and would accommodate us a bit. So they promised we could have the person for a few nights instead of the remuneration we should get. Then they would just forget about whatever happened before."
Sun Jin’s face lit up. "Ah? They actually promised that? I’d really like to —"
This time, Duan Bao smashed his elbow into Sun Jin’s stomach.
Sun Jin doubled over and coughed. "Ah! Fuck! I mean, I’d really like to go and smash their faces for even thinking about something like that! Our Master’s person, how could he just be casually given out to somebody else? And we certainly wouldn’t touch the person he wants." He held his stomach and glared at Duan Bao. This guy! Couldn’t have said something instead?!
Hou Dong gave Sun Jin a look before turning to the beauty. "Don’t worry about it. None of my men will touch you. And what I said previously still holds. I won’t force you into my bed either. If you want to, there’s a place for you. If you don’t want to … Well, that won’t happen."
The youth looked at him, still wondering just how this man could be so reassured that he would be able to win him over.
Hou Dong gave a smile and turned back to his men. "So since they don’t want to give us either the person or the money even though both should be ours by right, we’ll just take it. Naturally, we could ditch them here and be done with this. But … I don’t think this is the right way to go. Even though it is still quite some way to the city, it’s not sure that anything will happen to them. How would that be teaching them a lesson?"
Sun Jin clenched his hands into fists and smashed them together. "Right! If we’re doing something, we should go the whole way! We can’t let them get away that easily."
Hou Dong rolled his eyes. "Precisely. So how about this? We’ll continue to accompany them until the city and pretend that we’re satisfied with what they offered. We’ll let them do their business and let them sell the beauty."
The youth looked at Hou Dong, his eyes widening. This man … hadn’t he just promised that he and his men wouldn’t touch him? How could he let the merchants sell him off now?
Hou Dong laughed when he saw him look like that. "What? You really think something would happen to you? Naturally, we’ll go and save you. We’ll even make sure that whoever dares to buy you will get his just desserts too. After that, we’ll return to the merchants and ask for our pay. They will certainly refuse to hand it out, bringing out that bullshit contract and pretending that it’s normal to only do so when we’re back home.
"This is a good excuse for us to accompany them back into the desert until we’ve reached this place again. Then we can ditch them. It’s a good spot. It’s still quite a bit away from the city and it’s a long way until Hua country. They won’t dare to go the rest of the way without protection so, in the end, they’ll return to the city since it’s closer. Whatever happens to them there, it won’t be our problem."
His men nodded. "That sounds good, Master, but isn’t that just making them take a detour? They’ll have a longer way but it won’t hurt them much, would it?"
Hou Dong chuckled. "Sun Jin, you’re thinking too small. What do you think will happen when they return to the city? There’ll be a very angry customer waiting for them. Not only did he buy a slave that vanished right the same night, but he’ll also feel deeply humiliated because of what happened in that night. Naturally, if the merchants that sold him the slave return, they’ll be the ones to take the blame. Furthermore … they wouldn’t have anything to either pacify this customer or hire a group of mercenaries to escort them back home."
The men looked at him and understanding dawned on them.
Some of them chuckled, glancing at each other. "You’re evil, Master."
Hou Dong smiled. "How am I evil? I’m a very righteous man. If I see somebody doing bad deeds, I just can’t help but want to show them the might of justice. So, I’m only trying to do the right thing here."
The warriors laughed but the youth couldn’t help but feel lost. He really couldn’t understand what these men were talking about. Well, there was nothing he could do besides following Hou Dong. He could only hope that this man was saying the truth and that he wouldn’t end up as the plaything of some old man. In that case, he might as well have stayed home and put up with that disgusting bandit.
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