Chapter 48: The Xu Family Took the Silver

"Tiger, Lord Tiger, I—I truly didn't know the silver belonged to you! Even if you gave me ten guts, I wouldn't dare to cheat you!" Chen Dafu's body shook more violently, his speech stuttering severely.

"Lord Tiger?" Liu Heng frowned. He did not know any Lord Tiger, nor had he ever heard of one. Chen Dafu must have mistaken him for someone else.

Yang Yuan grabbed Chen Dafu by the hair and demanded, "Where is the silver? Don't tell me you spent it all in just a few days."

"N—no, I only spent less than fifty taels," Chen Dafu shrank his neck.

"Where are the remaining six hundred taels? Where have you hidden them?" Yang Yuan pinned Chen Dafu down with one hand, holding a blade to his throat.

The icy edge of the blade pressed against his skin. Even though it was the scorching heat of mid-summer, Chen Dafu felt as though he had plunged into the dead of winter. Every hair on his body stood on end, and a warm sensation spread near his lower abdomen as a stream of liquid leaked out.

"He's pissed himself again, damn it," Yang Yuan said with a look of disgust.

The smell inside the room was far from pleasant. The scent of blood mingled with the stench of urine, making it even more pungent and repulsive than horse manure in a stable.

"Lord—Lord Tiger, spare my life! I really only have this little silver left," Chen Dafu pleaded, turning to Liu Heng, knowing whose word carried weight among these men.

Though he was no Lord Tiger, Liu Heng did not bother to explain. Instead, he said coldly, "You swallowed a thousand taels of my silver. To save your life, this bit is far from enough as ransom."

"Steward... Steward Xu took it," Chen Dafu stammered. "I beg Lord Tiger, for the sake of the Xu family, to spare this dog's life."

Hearing the name of the Xu family once more, Liu Heng's heart sank.

The Xu family was powerful enough that even the county magistrate had to tread carefully around them. Clearly, they were the elite gentry of Lingqiu County, unlikely to lack guards or estate protectors, and certainly not the kind of people someone could easily sneak into and burglarize.

Once the silver was in the hands of the Xu family, Liu Heng knew there was virtually no hope of getting it back.

"Since you cannot scrape together the silver, you cannot blame us." Liu Heng made a hand gesture to Yang Yuan.

Chen Dafu's eyes had been fixed on Liu Heng, so he naturally saw the gesture. He screamed desperately, "I have it! I have it, I have the silver!"

"Wait," Liu Heng called out to Yang Yuan.

"You really won't shed a tear until you see your coffin," Yang Yuan said, slapping Chen Dafu's cheek with the flat of his blade. "If you had the silver, why didn't you just hand it over sooner? Speak, where is it hidden?"

Chen Dafu didn't dare to move, speaking only with his lips: "There is a wooden box inside the wardrobe. It's all in there."

Hearing this, Zhao Wu walked straight toward the wardrobe in the room.

Opposite the head of the brick-bed stood a chest, and beside it was an upright cabinet. Zhao Wu pulled open the cabinet door and indeed found a wooden box. When he picked it up with his hand, he found it remarkably light—it certainly didn't weigh as much as six hundred taels of silver.

Zhao Wu handed the wooden box to Liu Heng, saying, "The weight is wrong."

As he took it, Liu Heng also felt that the box was too light; it likely contained no silver at all.

Chen Dafu hurriedly explained from the brick-bed, "There's no silver inside. Those are deeds and contracts, but they're worth far more than six hundred taels."

A brass lock hung on the wooden box. Liu Heng pried the lock open with his dagger, opened the box, and motioned for Zhao Wu to light the oil lamp in the room to illuminate it.

Inside were indeed a land deed and a contract. The deed was for this very residence belonging to Chen Dafu, while the contract was for the Dongshan Ironworks, clearly stating that Chen Dafu owned an ironworks in Dongshan.

"These two items are not worth six hundred taels." Liu Heng tossed the wooden box aside, though he kept the deed and the contract.

It was clear that Chen Dafu had no more silver left, and these were likely his most valuable possessions. To Liu Heng, having something was better than nothing; even if they were of no immediate use, they might prove useful in the future.

He had bought a piece of mind for over six hundred taels.

"They are worth it, truly worth six hundred taels!" Chen Dafu said eagerly. "The courtyard isn't worth much, but the mine is valuable. A single iron-smelting furnace alone costs over a thousand taels. An ironworks this large is worth at least four to five thousand taels."

Liu Heng smiled. Before coming here, he had already inquired about what kind of person Chen Dafu was. If he really owned an ironworks worth four to five thousand taels, he would have sold it long ago to fund his drinking, gambling, and whoring instead of keeping it until now.

The contract was genuine, and the ironworks was indeed located in Dongshan, but that ironworks had long since been abandoned, and its furnaces were ruined. Restoring a furnace would cost at least a thousand taels, and building a large one would take at least two thousand. Such a small ironworks simply wasn't worth sinking that much capital into. Furthermore, with northern iron heavily suppressed by Min iron, it had long struggled to command a good price and offered very few profits. Finding a willing buyer for the ironworks was even harder.

"Hand him over to you. Make it quick," Liu Heng said to Yang Yuan, then turned and stepped out of the east room into the courtyard.

Not long after, Yang Yuan emerged from the main room.

Liu Heng said nothing more, leading the men over the wall back to the neighboring courtyard.

Once everyone was safely back inside the room, Liu Heng asked, "Is it settled?"

"Settled," Yang Yuan nodded.

Liu Heng turned to the others in the room and commanded, "Rest while you can. As soon as dawn breaks, we leave the city."

None of them were strangers to killing or bloodshed, and none felt any unease after taking a life. They dispersed to find spots to rest.

There was still over an hour until dawn. Liu Heng sat with his back against the wall near the door, holding his sword in his arms to rest. The moment a rooster crowed, his eyes snapped open, and he sprang down from the brick-bed.

The others in the room also opened their eyes and stood up.

Liu Heng instructed, "Feed and water the horses, saddle them up, and we'll leave through the West City Gate."

Lingqiu City was divided into eastern and western sectors, with city gates on both sides.

Summer dawns early. Before the Mao hour had even arrived, the first rays of morning light broke through, illuminating the earth.

The previous night, Zhao Wu had thoughtfully bought plenty of flatbreads and mutton, which he now brought out. Liu Heng didn't mind that the food was cold; he wrapped a piece of mutton in a flatbread and began to eat.

The others followed suit, eating in the same manner.

By the time they finished eating, the horses had finished their fodder as well. Each man led a horse out of the courtyard.

Shortly after the Mao hour struck, the morning bell of Lingqiu's West City rang out, reminding the city's residents that the gates were now open.

At this hour, there were few pedestrians on the streets; most people had just gotten out of bed and were busy preparing breakfast.

Liu Heng urged his horse to a slightly faster pace, leading his men out of Lingqiu County through the West Gate. Once outside, they whipped their horses into a gallop, slowing down only after they had put more than ten miles between themselves and the city, giving the horses a chance to rest.

That rapid dozen-mile ride had nearly split Yang Yuan's inexperienced bottom into four pieces, making him wince in pain. Only when the pace slowed down did he manage to say, "Chief, back in Lingqiu, the East Gate was much closer to us. Why did we make a detour to use the West Gate?"

"Whoa, everyone dismount and let the horses recover their strength," Liu Heng pulled on the reins, brought his horse to a halt, and swung down from the saddle.

Zhao Wu and the others dismounted as well, letting the horses graze on the surrounding grass. Only Yang Yuan had to be helped down from his mount.

"Ouch, it kills me," Yang Yuan said while rubbing his rear. "I definitely need to learn how to ride properly. Being carried along on a fast horse is pure torture; it shook my backside almost numb."

Hearing this, Zheng Tie and the others couldn't help laughing.

"Go on, go on, what are you laughing at? Weren't you in the exact same state when you didn't know how to ride?" Yang Yuan retorted with a feigned curse.

After settling the horses, Liu Heng explained, "Let me tell you why we didn't use the East Gate. There's an agency market right by the East Gate. The moment we appeared near that gate, people would have seen us and guessed that we dealt with Chen Dafu last night. Wealth tempts the heart; for the sake of a thousand taels of silver, there's no guarantee they wouldn't have gotten other ideas."

Hearing this, Yang Yuan nodded in sudden understanding, wisely withholding any foolish remarks about how they had only managed to recover a little over three hundred taels.

"What place is that mountain ahead of the post road?" Liu Heng suddenly raised a hand and pointed in a direction a few miles away.

The eyes of the men followed the direction of his finger.